Thursday, September 5, 2013

Thank You Mr. Featherstone

I was saddened to read that Donald Featherstone passed
away last Tuesday (reported here).
While certainly not a household name, he was a giant who had a remarkable
influence on modern gaming culture. As I mentioned before,
he helped popularize wargaming, turning the childish activity of playing with
toy soldiers into a hobby for adults. Dungeons
& Dragons would evolve out of this hobby (one of D&D's creators, Gary Gygax, started as a wargamer; he even published Chainmail, a set of rules for
medieval wargames). Of course, D&D would
essentially spawn the entire role-playing industry, including video and
computer games like World of Warcraft.

On a personal note, Featherstone certainly influenced my
gaming life. On his bookshelves, my father had a copy of Featherstone’s War Game Campaigns.

I repeatedly and excitedly read the battle reports and pored
over the pictures of hordes of figures marching across the table top. I even
tried to play one of the campaigns. Unfortunately, this book is actually for
advanced wargamers so it doesn’t have all the rules and guidelines a beginner
would need to get playing. Still, this book fired my imagination and spurred my
interest in wargaming. For that, I owe Mr. Featherstone a great big thank you!